The first match of the day in what is another dreamy schedule in Monte-Carlo will see the defending champion, Stan Wawrinka go up against Grigor Dimitrov. 15 of the 16 seeds in the draw have gone through to the third round promising a great day of action. Wawrinka faced a dangerous first match on clay against the in-form, Juan Monaco. After suffering losses to Robin Haase and Adrian Mannarino in Indian Wells and Miami respectively, Wawrinka started on a clean slate for the clay court season with a reasonably comfortable, 6-1 6-4 victory. Wawrinka began the year in fine form, winning two titles in Chennai and Rotterdam, and reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open. However, since Rotterdam, he had lost more matches than he had won before this tournament. He remains an inconsistent player, but one that you cannot ignore.

Since a gutting fourth round loss to Andy Murray in Melbourne, Dimitrov has been stuttering. Two wins in Monte-Carlo has been an encouraging development for Dimitrov and a feat he hadn’t achieved since the Australian Open. His first round win over Fernando Verdasco was a real confidence boosting victory. In an excellent encounter, Dimitrov was forced to come back from *0-40 down when serving for the match and save seven break points before finally serving out the win, 6-4 4-6 6-4 in two hours and 27 minutes. Dimitrov backed up that win over the Spanaird with a much cleaner performance in a straight sets victory over Fabio Fognini, 6-3 6-4. Dimitrov served particularly well with 75% of first serves in and winning 83% of points behind it.

Wawrinka leads the head-to-head with Dimitrov, 2-1 and won their only match on clay in Madrid, 3-6 6-4 6-1. It was Dimitrov who won their last match in Queens with a sauntering display. The grass suits Dimitrov more than Wawrinka so the result wasn’t that surprising. Wawrinka is much more at home on the clay. Dimitrov has lost his last seven matches against top 10 players and he will probably have to play his best match of the year to reach the quarters. I like Stan on the clay and I think he’s going to do well over the next couple of months…

Cilic just anyhow managed to overcome the first round, the match could have gone to the German , Cilic was lucky to manage somehow.I still feel he is not upto his 100% fitness and even Tsonga is on a comeback spree.Will be an interesting match to watch but it will be over in 2 sets with Tsonga’s win.Monfils form is not that great after that injury that he can trouble Roger..It will be an easy win for him.

I couldn’t agree with you more on all the eight ATP match predictions, but still feel one or may be maximum two upsets are on the corner.Also Berdych’s match can strech to 3,Agut is very unpredictable, you never know when he can come with a set of brilliance and also doubt Wawrinka’s form.

Yeah I can’t see Djokovic getting beaten. But he could well have a difficult match. He has admitted to being fatigued and it can often take him a while in a match to find a rhythym against new opponents.

The inconsistency of Monfils is the reason i am not going with him. Anyways i am staying away from markets for this one seeing no value in this match because of Monfils unpredictabilty.You never know which version of Monfils is turning up.The one against Federer or against Kuznetsov.

Am very confused for the Berdych vs Raonic one, seeing yesterdays match in which Raonic was not very comfortable with his serve and less number of aces that led the match extended to 3 sets with Robredo.I guess thats the reason for so short odds for Berdych which shouldn’t be.Any comments and insights?

Its all on Nadals racket really. He’s the one with the bigger weapons. All Ferrer can do is force him to rack up ufe’s, but that’s something he’s very good at doing.
I’m more interested in the Cilic vs Djokovic match. Marin showed Tsonga the game that won him a Slam. And Cilic vs Djokovic @ Wimby last year was one of my favorite matches of the whole year.